The Pureblood Faberge Egg
by mariah.artist
Summary: He turned around with a book in his hand and said, “I wish you weren't a muggle-born. There would be so many possibilities."..falling in love with him has changed everything.Until she receives the Pureblood Faberge Egg. What will she do to keep it secret?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The door to Ginny's room was shut as Hermione slipped into her new robes she had just purchased. "Where are you going with these new robes, Hermione? They're not your standard one for Hogwarts...wait.." Ginny lifted one of the boxes from Hermione's big purchase on the floor, and saw a penciled black dress in one of them. She lifted it from the box and swung it around the air with her arms outstretched. "Where did you get this? Who are you wearing this for? Victor Krum?" Hermione blushed and checked herself out in the mirror with just her new robe on over her muggle clothes. "No. I just wanted to see how it looks if I wear it around school too." Hermione replied.

"These are for school? For what, casual wear when you're hanging around with my brother and Harry? You're wearing an opera cloak for merlin's sake!" Ginny argued Her eyebrows were raised when Hermione took off the cloak and started undressing herself to fit into a corset. "Alright, I give up. Can you keep a secret? I mean a secret from Harry?" She whispered. Ginny squinted in suspicion as she reached to tie the back of the corset. "What kind of secret?" Hermione blushed and whispered, "Ron stole an invitation to a party. And not just any party. The biggest of them all. It's been around for centuries. But only pure-bloods are invited. So I researched with Ron to find out who would be going and--"

"The Bordeaux Midnight Ball...Hermione that's all the way in France. Are you mad in the head or something? How are you going to get there?" Ginny shouted. Hermione turned around and reached for Ginny's mouth to cover it before Ron stormed through the bedroom door. "Hermione! oh...hi Ginny. Hermione! Are you ready? We only got ten minutes before we set off. Remember you've got to...wait..does she?" "Yes she knows," "Oh great. Well change your hair color and uh...change your hair style or something. The Malfoy's will be there." Hermione grinned and looked back into the mirror. Her corset was fully on and now.

Although Ron turned purple from embarrassment and grabbed Ginny hurling her out or the room. His explanation afterwards was that he needed help looking more of a convincing pure blood that was mean. Continuing to stare in the mirror, Hermione uncurled the ribbons around her neck holding the robe and scurried to the box containing her magical black penciled dress. The color was a majestic black that cut off across her chest. Two strings tied up on her shoulders to keep the dress in place. When she held it to her body in front of the mirror she whispered to herself, "Tonight I'll be someone else for the first time. Someone beautiful, that every pure blood will wish they were me, a muggle born. I'm going to dance on fire when they see me walk through the entrance..."

Meanwhile, Ron was adjusting his black laced ruffle collar tucking it into a velvet black vest. "Where did you come up with the money to buy these things, Ron?" Ginny questioned as she straightened out his suit jacket with her wand. "Hermione said her parents had some sore of muggle cooolege trust fund...I wonder what a cooolege is?" He grinned sheepishly in his mirror from the look of his clothes. "How come Harry can't come?" Ginny asked. Ron's grin twitched and he answered, "Because he'd turn it into a Voldemort raid. Hermione and I just wanted to have some use for the Order of the Phoenix for once. So we're doing this on our own terms and whatever information we get, we'll tell the Order and then we'll be knowledgeable of what's going on for once!" Ginny glared at Ron's reflection when she started straightening his pants. "He's just as useful as you are Ron!" she snarled.

Ron looked down at the ground in shame, "I just wanted to impress Hermione without Harry nagging at me at what's going wrong with the world." Ginny suppressed her anger with a firm jerk of her wand pointing at his pants. His clothes were straightened and curled at the right points. His dress shoes polished and not a trace of lint appeared hidden. "Finally you're clothes look done by a house elf. Now, Ron if you run into any of the Malfoy there, watch your tongue. Change your hair color and even your freckles and they won't recognize you hopefully." Ginny suggested. Ron turned around to look at her with a smug smile on his face, "Thank you Ginny."

~link to the actual attire Hermione's wearing:

* * *

The night was still young, while Ginny distracted her mother with the latest gossip on Bill and Fluer to fuel her temper. Ron and Hermione sneaked out as fast as they could to the edge of the front yard. "Do you have the portkey?" he whispered. Her hair dangled into a wispy blond bun and when she looked up at him to pull out a wine bottle from her purse. "I can't believe they would use such a thing." she muttered. Ron was staring at her entranced how beautiful the moon light caressed her beauty. "What?" he asked. "It's an actual wine bottle made from a wine company that supported Hitler in the 40's." she remarked. She took a deep breath and handed him the bottle making sure her fingers were still entwined around the base of the bottle. "One...two....THREE!" they counted.

They vanished from the Burrow to hurtle down to the ground in front of a train station. "Hurry, we only have three minutes!" he cried. He grabbed for her arm and hurried towards the nearest entrance open door of the train. "Are you sure this is the right one?" she called out behind him. The engine of the train was thundering the stone walls into a roaring echo of sound. "YES IT"S THE RIGHT ONE! ALL YOU HAVE TO LOOK FOR IS THAT SNAKE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He pointed in the direction of Draco Malfoy boarding the train with his aunt and mother in tow. The Malfoy's didn't hear them coming luckily.

The two of them hurried through a separate entrance onto the train and found all the compartments were full. "We're going to have to stand in front of a few passengers in the side carts. Remember look mean and spiteful, Hermione." he breathed. Hermione smiled up at him and whispered, "What should I call you? Your hair is black and your eyes are blue now, I can't keep calling you Ron!" Ron froze in the middle of the narrow hallway they were walking through. "Shite, I don't know." he mumbled.

His ears were turning red and his freckles were glowing through the charms she had just got done bewitching. "Calm down. Just don't say anything to anyone. I'll talk for you!" she muttered. Ron nodded his head and remained mute as they continued to walk down the hall and into the side carts. There were dining tables and wizards and witches standing and sitting conversing throughly on their hearts desire. Hermione suggested they stand together watching the scenery pass by through the windows in opposite directions. It was so they'd have each other's back. "It's only eight o'clock. The ball doesn't start till midnight. I wonder what they do before the ball?" she breathed into Ron's shoulder. They stood so close that Ron could breathe in her perfume. His eyes grew hazy and his smug smile appeared through her hair. "You smell wonderful....what are you wearing?" he asked as if he were in a trance. Hermione glared out the window and leaned over to snarl in his ear, "FOCUS!" A man looked up in question, "Excuse me miss, do I know you?"

Hermione hadn't recognized the petite man eating his steak. "No, I'm Genaveive DesChanel. Of the DesChanel clan." she smirked. She squinted her eyes in a glare to show her meanness. The man covered his mouth in shock, "OF THE DESCHANEL CLAN!? They're the richest wizardry family in all of France!" Ron had been facing in the opposite direction of Hermione and watched as wizards and witches looked up at Hermione's back and started gossiping like birds.

* * *

Later on a Conductor began calling out, "Tickets please. Give me your tickets!" Ron felt up and down his jacket as Hermione conversed with the small man in French. "Hermione I don't have the train tickets. I just have the ballroom tickets." Ron grumbled. He clenched his face with his whole hand hiding the freckles burning with embarrassment. "SHITE!" he whimpered. The conductor was coming closer punching holes through tickets and continued calling out, "Tickets please, hand me your tickets."

Hermione looked up at Ron after speaking with the French man, and muttered, "I'm sorry." Ron looked down at her confused. "What?" he said. Hermione abruptly slapped him and shouted, "You bastard!" And ran out the side cart and down the hallway. She fled from Ron's side looking for an open compartment to hide in. She found one at the end of the hall and ran as fast as she could towards it. Ron was flabbergasted and stood with his hand on his cheek confused.

Finally she reached the compartment to look back down the hall and see that Ron was being questioned by the Conductor. She hurried inside the compartment and slammed the door shut. "I'm so sorry," she whimpered. A man looked up at her from inside the compartment, "Sorry for what my dear?"

She recognized his voice anywhere. She looked towards the voice to see a man with long beautiful blond hair and a a black suit with a scarlet silk shirt underneath. His crude smile didn't sneer at her. But smirked at the amusement of her. Lucius Malfoy.

Author's Note: I hope you like, I'm working on two different stories at once here so please have patience. I've had writer's block since September. Oo


	2. Chapter 2

~ hopefully the link will work this time, this is a view of Hermione's dress!

/news/emma-watson-in-magazines/ Now look at the black dress if you scroll down! That's the one! O_x

Chapter Two

"Oh it's nothing, should I leave?" Hermione stated. She bit her lip as her mind raced with scenarios of how she could get herself out of the compartment if things went bad. Lucius smirked and crossed his legs as he said in a relaxed posture, "Oh my if you want to then go right ahead. But if you're here avoiding someone then I can see to it that you have nothing to worry over." He lifted his cane from the seat and began stroking the tip of the snake's mouth with a gesture of longing.

_I think that his wand is hidden in there...the way he holds it..it must be. I must watch what I say, because he could strike me in the back any moment I give him if I don't appear to him as a fellow pure-blood. A serpent's son in every way. I hope I'm wrong. Oh merlin, I hope I'm wrong. _Hermione could hear the conductor walking down the hallway. She had to act quickly. "Oh really. I won't have to worry then?" she sneered. Hermione flinched at her own gesture and retorted back to looking Lucius in the eyes. She imagined she was a mistress of the kings court and began feeling her eyes flow into a seductive stare. _I have to be dominant and cunning with him. He'll think of me as his own if I act that way. I have to be my own Zsa Zsa Gabor. _Lucius breathed in slowly and whispered, "You have the most beautiful eyes....what is your name?" Hermione stumbled out of her stare and said slowly, "Genaveive. Do you have family?" _Maybe I can find out where Draco is so I can avoid him on the train if I escape. _ "Oh yes, but they're in another compartment. Who is the someone you're hiding from?" Lucius had shuffled his legs again into another crossing position. It was as if Hermione made him want to hide a few things he was saying. "Oh, just a friend from school who hasn't enough money to buy himself a new reputation!" she chuckled maliciously.

His eyes brows perked up from that answer, "Interesting. What school?" Hermione panicked. She clutched the edges of her seat and answered, "Beauxbatons! But sometimes my parent's home school me near Durmstrang." Lucius's smirked and was about to breathe out another sentence when he was interrupted with a man opening the compartment door. He was followed inside by the conductor. She looked up at the mysterious dark haired man hoping it was Ron. Then she recognized him. Suddenly she felt her chest heave almost into a heart attack. It was Severus Snape who slouched inside to sit next to her across from Lucius. "Ah Severus! Good of you to find my compartment." Severus nodded and sat across from Lucius next to Hermione. He didn't take one look at Hermione because he was reaching into his cloak for the ticket to hand to the conductor.

"Tickets, madam." the conductor asked. Hermione stuttered before Lucius stood up and reached for Hermione's hand, "Can't you see I'm with my mistress. Take my ticket and count it as both of ours. You know how Narcissa can get." Lucius stated. He opened an envelope and handed the conductor his ticket along with a few gold galleons into the conductor's pocket. The conductor gave him a curt nod and left the compartment. Lucius used the excuse of standing up from his seat to slide into the seat next to Hermione. He ended up squishing Severus to get out of his seat. "Now where were we." he smiled.

She felt her heart ready to rip out of her chest from freight of Severus ever going to recognize her and then feeling the whims of a dark red blush plague her cheeks and ears for being called a mistress of Lucius Malfoy! "Oh heh...I don't remember." she breathed. Severus rolled his eyes and moved to sit across from Lucius instead of being squished next to him. "A mistress Lucius? Why bother when you have Narcissa ready to crawl up your pants in a second whenever you stare at her." Severus snickered. Lucius glared back at him and said, "Oh quit getting your cock in a twist Severus."

Severus snarled, "At least--" then he stopped. He looked at Hermione and began to stare at her. He was entranced by her then began analyzing her appearance. He instantly recognized her thin lips and her chocolate caramel eyes the swirled into a sweet golden ring around her iris. He knew those eyes from every potions class he had with the Gryffindor's from Hogwarts. The eyes he avoided every time she knew the answer to his questions. "You." he breathed still staring at her. Hermione's flash of blush burst through her cheeks as she held her breath. "I know you very well. What are you doing here." He remarked. His gaze never leaving her. "Oh you know Genaveive? She is quite a beauty to never forget isn't she?" Lucius complimented. Severus blinked from staring at her and re-focused on Lucius. "Genaveive is it." he muttered. He then tried changing the subject so Lucius wouldn't recognize her from Draco's descriptions. His gaze climbed to the racks above their heads holding one suitcase of interest. "What's in the suitcase Malfoy?" Severus demanded.

He had to retrace his steps to stop staring at Hermione and answered, "My stamp collection. I collect wizardry stamps from the 19th century when wizards use to use them to send secret messages all over the world from every country." Lucius explained. He stood up from his seat and reached for the suitcase. Opening it he lifted a large parchment book out of it and sat back down to set it on his lap. The sun outside the window was starting to set completely. The lights of the train went on inside and lit up the compartment with a beautiful array of colors nothing like the Hogwart's express. Hermione noticed the wallpaper inside was a peeling green with golden fluer de lis symbols fading. The seats a dark chocolate leather she recognized as Italian from the smoothness under her fingers. Each seat was covered halfway with a bugendy silk fabric.

Lucius cracked open the book slowly to reveal magical stamps whispering to eachother of the secrets they held. "They're beautiful," she whispered. He began turning the pages slowly to add the effect of it's beauty. Not a single stamp was missing until he opened it to one single page. It was completely empty. "Where are the stamps for this page?" she muttered. Lucius smirked and looked over at her. He answered, "They're far away now. I've looked everywhere for them and I can't find a single trace. It's as if I'm competing against another collector."

Severus took another glance at Hermione then looked back at Lucius. "You should get a few hours rest before they stop the train at Lizard Point. We'll be escorted by dragons from there to Bordeaux, France. We should be appartioning instead, but the dragons are for the rich pure-bloods and the excitement of the ball." he said in a bored tone. "Ah yes, I still don't understand who came up with the idea of taking a train to Lizard Point when we could have all apparirated in France." Lucius rolled his eyes at the idea of so much work involved. "It makes me feel like a...a muggle." he said disgusted with the idea.

"Yes we're prone to think that, but the excitement is for the younger generation to continue coming back to the ball year after year till their parents pass out and die." Severus added. He leaned back against his seat and began to close his eyes after taking one last glance at Hermione staring at the stamp book on Lucius's lap.

She was still worried what had happened to Ron. Did he get kicked off the train? Did he make it into one of the compartments and was called out as a man-servant for one of the pure-bloods? _I hope he's alright. _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Hermione had fallen asleep during the train ride to Lizard Point. She woke up against a sturdy shoulder and a comforting cloak surrounding her whole body like a warm blanket. "How did you sleep?" A woman asked. She was sitting directly across from Hermione with a deathly glare. Her eyes flared blue with instant rage glowing around her long blond hair. She had been sitting next to a woman with long black hair almost identical in bits of features. Hermione knew at once they were siblings. "I slept well...." Hermione breathed. The woman snarled, "HOW DARE YOU!" and charged at her with her hands outstretched ready to choke Hermione!

She screamed from the freight of this woman's actions. Suddenly the woman's sister made a grab for Narcissa to hold her back while Lucius awoke from Narcissa's screaming. "I"LL KILL HER HERE AND NOW!" Narcissa shouted. Lucius threw his arm out between Hermione and his wife and said in a dark tone, "Stop this behavior Narcissa. You're acting indecent in front of our 'wealthy' friend."

The screaming and death threats stopped. Narcissa glared up at him and placed her hands by her side while her sister rubbed her shoulders to soothe her. She sat back down across from Hermione still glaring coldly.

"Lucius you're a knotty boy. We heard from the trolley witch that you had a maiden in here. It drove us to think you would be cheating on my poor sister." Severus rolled his eyes and muttered, "Only you would think that, Bellatrix." As soon as she heard him, she whipped her head around and glared at Severus. "You're the twit who doesn't do anything." she muttered.

"Now let's calm down here, the two of you are acting like school girls when we're all adults here. Now we have to be arriving for our meeting coming up..." Lucius didn't continue his sentence for he looked down at Hermione unsure to go one further. Then he straightened his robes with a twitch of his wand and unruffled his hair with a twitch of his fingers. "What is the hour?" he asked Bellatrix. She grinned and held out her pocket watch, "It is two hours before the a ball. I'm so glad none of the blood traitors were invited." she snickered.

Hermione glanced over at Severus who stared back with not a single gesture in support.Hermione stood up thinking of the best escape from the compartment to search for Ron instead of giving into her curiosity of Lucius's errands. "I'm off to the loo." she called out and slowly walked out of the compartment. She did this while Lucius and Narcissa were speaking quickly about the Ministry. But when she finally got some fresh air outside to the compartment, she was followed halfway down the hall.

A hand instantly grabbed for her shoulder when a voice cunningly whispered in her ear, "I'll go along with you, meanwhile Narcissa and Lucius can catch up and hopefully overcrowd the old git in the corner." She felt the ice off Bellatrix's lips sink into her spine when she walked down the hall.

Every room they passed, she made certain to take a harder glance through the glass windows of the doors. She wanted to make for certain Ron was in one of them. When she began walking faster to find the loo, Bellatrix gripped harder on her shoulder.

"So, you must be my nephew's age. I think you should be hanging around boys your own age in the first place. Not married men." she remarked. Hermione started feeling the ice in her spine begin pinching nerves as she moved. Bellatrix was never going to release her hold.

Finally they stopped at a compartment with the door open, Hermione saw someone inside she knew very well. The girl had long wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. But the way she looked wasn't familiar with her personality. Her dress was a long soft silk yellow and the way her hair was styled made her have a Marilyn Monroe affect with her make-up. She was beautiful and far from what she always appeared. It was hard to recognize her, but the only thing giving her away was her wand in her ear while reading the large book in her hand. It was the one girl she thought was crazy at school.

"Luna?" Hermione breathed. _If I say her name any louder she'll recognize me from Hogwarts. _

The boy sitting across from her grinning up at Luna, was none other than Draco Malfoy. "Ah, this is my nephew Draco. Draco, I'd like you to meet...what was your name again?" Bellatrix directed Hermione and herself away from the hall and into the compartment, showing everyone in the room, Hermione's features. "I'm Genaveive." she whispered. Luna smiled and looked down at Draco who sat up to greet Hermione. "I'm Draco. And she's....Anna." he said without looking into her eyes. _He lied. So is she pretending to be someone else like me? _ His focus was somewhere else completely. As were his nerves. He shook her hand with a soft grip and looked back into the room to watch Luna pick up a book and begin reading aloud. "I...I have to go to the loo." Hermione shrugged her shoulders out of Bellatrix's grip and tried to get out of the compartment. Bellatrix grabbed for her again and shoved her inside. "Oh I don't think you do. You used that as an excuse to avoid Narcissa trying to murder you."

Hermione stuttered to come up with an answer when Luna interrupted her, "She can read with us. I'm reading from Notable Magical Names of Our Time....if you sit down I can read aloud." Hermione kept quiet and sat down across from Draco. She felt herself give up and not care if anyone recognized her. She wanted so badly to have Harry's invisibility cloak and go find Ron.

Luna began to read aloud, "....Grindelwald's own defeat would come in the form of a reminder of his past, for Albus Dumbledore had two reasons for confronting Grindelwald in combat. Firstly, to help vanquish the world of a perpetrator of evil, and secondly, to take his wand. Dumbledore had never become a proponent of the Dark Arts, as his friend had, but he had not lost his yearning to possess the Hallows. Their duel was said to be an extreme feat to behold, containing some of the most advanced magic ever witnessed, and it resulted in Grindelwald being overpowered and eventually incarcerated in Nurmengard [DH2]. Dumbledore was successful in obtaining the Elder Wand, and became its new master. [DH24]." Bellatrix folded her arms across her chest and stared at Luna in question, "Are you some supporter of Dumbledore?"

Luna opened her mouth to answer when Draco stood up quickly and spoke for Luna, "No, she and I were reading up on Grindelwald so I could take some ideas from a male's perspective of one of the greatest dark lords from the past..." Draco started leaning in front of Luna in a guarding position. _So he is protecting her. Meaning he lied for her...are they secretly friends or something? _Hermione was aghast at this idea.

A wicked smile spread across Bellatrix's face, "I can give you a sample of advice from a live dark lord Draco when you're brave enough to listen." Draco changed the subject as quickly as possible, "Well we should be getting ready for the ball coming up." He started pushing Bellatrix out the door and quickly shut the door behind him. Instantly closing the blinds and quickly tapping the knob of the door with the an incantation, "Alohomora!" he held himself up against the door and took a deep breath. His body slid to the ground from the stress in his eyes.

When he looked up at Hermione, he had barely noticed her. "My apologies for my aunt. She's a bit of a prat." Hermione shrugged as her idea of sympathy and began staring out the window. She watched Luna from the corner of her eye. She had closed the book in her arms and leaned down to stroke Draco's cheek. "You're safe for now." she whispered. He lifted his head up and smiled weakly. "You have nothing to worry. I told you I'd protect you from them." he breathed.

Hermione's eyes widened from the shock of the sudden news. She watched the two of them sit across from each other comforting the other from the window's reflection. She was trying very hard not to burst into a hysterical laugh. So she clenched her jaw and tried to think of something less funny. Like where had Ron gone off to.

_Author's Note: Alright whew. That took a while. So for the book quote I had to use something that was public knowledge, and lets just say that the actual author of the book the quote was from used the quote Luna spoke from the book she was reading aloud. Oo does that make sense? And no this isn't like the movie Black Book. I've seen the movie and I've only used the idea of the train scene from there. That's it. The idea of Hermione being her own spy is of her own idea. She wasn't told to be one. So grr! :)_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

It was finally the hour of arrival. The train stopped at Lizard Point and Hermione could see the dragons wait outside on the rocks with riders and dragon herders taming them with whips and saddles. People bustled out of their compartments with luggage and house elves in tow. Draco and Luna had already left her compartment in such a rush she was scared of stepping outside alone. But before she could, Lucius hurried inside her compartment closing the door behind him. ."I apologize for Narcissa. Did Bellatrix hurt you?" he asked. Hermione looked up at him surprised at his concern. "She scared me, but didn't harm me." she answered.

Lucius sat her down quickly and stood in front of her as he asked, "Then my last question is why did you mention Igor Karkaroff during your nap?" His eyes were demanding as his lips pressed together in anticipation. Hermione froze from fear of that name. "Why...it..it's a long story. We best be going..." she tried to stand back up but he pushed her down by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "You tell me exactly why you mentioned his name. The way you said it was out of fear and loathing. So that tells me you're not a pure-blood if you were attacked by him. Now tell me the truth or I will not let you get off this train without every death eater here knowing you are not who you say you are."

Her eyes widened from the threat. Lucius stroked her chin and said coolly, "I won't hurt you if that's what you're thinking. I want to know exactly what happened with Igor. And then you tell me who you really are. Understood? I'll keep my word that if you tell me, I will get you safely off this train and back home where you should be."

"Alright....but please sit down so I can tell you. It's hard for me to talk about it." she whispered. Lucius stroked her cheek and sat across from her with the perfect posture. Taking a deep breath she felt her eyes water when her lips parted to say, "When I was at Hogwarts during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, I dated Victor Krum. Because of this, his headmaster would wait and hide around every corner...and grab me. He'd...he'd try and touch me. When it came down to the third task, he raped me in a public girls bathroom...(crying miserably)... while everyone was out watching the tournament...I hate him. He threatened he'd kill my friends if I told anyone...please please don't tell him I said anything." she looked up at him whimpering in pain. Lucius was surprised by this. He leaned towards her to comfort her but took it back to say, "Tell me who you really are now."

Hermione winced at the tone in his voice and said through clenched teeth as her tears poured out of her eyes, "I'm Hermione Granger...I just wanted to go to a ball. That's it, honestly..." Lucius froze from her answer and said slowly, "Her...Hermione Granger. The mudblood from Floourish and Blotts my son insults on a daily basis? Why....how did you even get word of this ball? You don't know any pure-bloods associated with us....how..." he stopped when he she tried to make a run for it from the compartment. He stopped her with the twitch of his wand. Freezing her very movement. Lucius stood up to stand around in front of her. He analyzed her hair color and her clothing. Then said softly, "You'd make a beautiful pure-blood. I'm sorry for placing that charm on you. I wasn't done questioning you. But I guess that's pointless now. You won't say more out of freewill since you think I'd kill you, Now, where were we on our little deal. Ah yes, I'm suppose to take you home now." He lifted his wand and stroked her lips with the tip of it.

Hermione was now able to speak, but only where she lived, "164 Abbey Rd, London." Lucius smiled and told her, "Now I want you to imagine your home clearly. We're going to be apparitioning there." Hermione felt tears run down her cheeks as she thought of her bedroom at home. Her nice warm brown blankets. The bookshelf filled to the brim for her every need. The smell of her candles next to her bed that carried the sent of cinnamon and vanilla. How peaceful and comforting it was. _Now he's going to rape me...please somebody help me!_

_* * *_

She felt the pop of her body arrive in her bedroom standing next to Lucius who had been holding her around the waist. He released the charm done on her body but froze her lips from speaking. "If you scream, I'll personally kill your parents and anyone who hears it. Hold your tongue." He released her lips from the charm and let her breathe. She fell to her knees and grabbed at his legs begging in a whisper, "Please don't hurt them!" _And please don't rape me. _Lucius bent down to hold her in his arms. He stroked her hair with his fine black leather gloves and whispered, "I would never do what Igor has down to your body. But I only threaten you now so you won't doing anything rash. Do you understand?" He moved her away from his shoulder to look back into her eyes. She nodded for his consideration and breathed a thank you.

Lucius moved to stand and look around the room. There was a poster of a black cat with French literature surrounding it. Along with romantic pictures of couples holding each other and kissing romantically. Hermione rubbed her shoulders and looked down at her dress shoes a little embarrassed. Lucius had been standing in front of the bookshelf when she asked, "So now what?" He turned around with a book in his hand and said, "I wish you weren't a muggle-born. There would be so many possibilities." Hermione wanted to prove to him she was something worth while. Feeling her mind go crazy and wanting to feel sexy under his eyes like she had earlier; she began unbuttoning her dress. His eyes were still looking at her book collection, as the dress slipped past her thighs and down to her feet. She used her wand to enchant the strings of her corset and let it fall to her heels. All that was left was her underwear. She left that there as she covered her breasts with her arms. "Yes...all the possibilities." she said it in a tone that whispered seduction from her lustrous lips

He turned around from the bookshelf to see what she meant. She slowly moved her arms away from her breasts and set them on her hips. Her hair was taken out of the bun and swayed around her shoulders. As she turned around so he would only see her back, she looked at him over her should to show off her bum.

The book in his hands fell from from his fingers. He slowly walked towards her and picked up her dress and corset from her feet. He helped her step out of them completely and tossed them aside. Then he gracefully placed his leather gloved hands around her waist and began kissing her shoulders. "Innocent freckles and soft skin. You're breathtaking Hermione. And not someone I'd force to make love to." he whispered. Hermione flinched at his last sentence. To calm her, her wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest. She felt the fur cuff of his collar across her shoulders from his black trench coat. A few cold metal pendents chilled her shoulder blades as he embraced her. (She was up to his chin.)

He leaned down a little to whisper in her ear, "You're a wonderful beauty...." she turned around in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She looked up at him and whispered with her eyes, "Give me the kiss of dreams." He smirked at this and leaned towards her lips. The instant they touched he parted her bottom lip from the top. Cherishing her top lip with a sweet suckle then gently wisping his tongue at the edge of her lips. He was bating her for her tongue. She let him win, and gave him just a snatch of her taste. The kissing was sweet and subtle. Lucius stroked her back as he tried taking off his gloves.

When the kissing was getting deeper and he could taste her full tongue, she started slipping his coat over his shoulders. He let go of her quickly and parted lips momentarily to take his coat off completely. Quickly going back to her lips as she began unbuttoning his burgundy silk shirt. She felt his smooth chest under her fingers and began slowly moving the shirt past his shoulders underneath. He tugged off the cuff links and grabbed the back of her thighs. Hoisting her up around his waist.

Before taking her over to the bed he breathed through her kisses, "I'll show you what it means to make love by feeling beautiful every minute of it."

* * *

Meanwhile, Narcissa and everyone arrived at the ball in feverish excitement. She felt depressed that Lucius wasn't there and began taking up every chance a cater walked by with red wine and champagne. When the music began sympathizing the romance in the evening, Narcissa began strolling around half drunk to find her son Draco dancing alongside his partner for the evening. Not caring for the world she found someone standing alone and decided to ask for a dance. The boy was her sons age and a complete klutz.

As the two danced she asked, "What's your name handsome?" The boy stuttered and said meekly, "Ron" Narcissa giggled and said, "How cute...ha, Ron." And past out drunk as a skunk into his arms.

Author's Note: WOO! Ok so that got a little dirty. I was trying to portray Lucius as insulting, but he's a bit of a gentlemen with Hermione when he threatens her. I can't portray him as really mean. But I will later on. I've been researching a lot of things, because I haven't read the books in a while and I forgot a few things. So please review because I hope you enjoy this chapter. I've been taking my time a little more so I can improve what i'm writing through the plot and to help make the chapters better. :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A sound awoke Lucius in the dark bedroom of the middle of the night. He and Hermione had fallen asleep in her twin bed. Blinking himself awake, he saw the source of the noise standing in front of him. The figure was slouching and clenching their fists. He looked up at the face and recognized it at once. "Severus, what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?" he questioned. Severus glared viciously and snarled, "If you hurt her in any way I will see to it that your romance with her because the topic of the day for Voldemort."

Lucius rose from the bed quietly resting on his elbows. His bare chest was gleaming from the moonlight from the bedroom window. "I wouldn't dare hurt her. And you didn't answer my question." Severus glanced down at Hermione's resting figure making sure she was fully asleep. "I don't need to explain myself to you. I'm here for her." Raising his eyebrows at this Lucius sneered, "Then leave now before I act out of disregard to my nature of being a gentlemen." Severus unfurled his fingers and grabbed for his wand. Seeing this action, Lucius did the same grabbing from the side of the bed; quickly both were at a duel pointing threats at the other. "The dark lord demands your presence tomorrow night."

Before he would say more, Hermione began mumbling in her sleep, "don't...please....don't touch me..." She was fidgeting from a nightmare. Severus lowered his wand and looked down at her. "What is she dreaming about?" he whispered. Lucius lowered his wand as well and turned to lean over Hermione. Stroking her cheek and combing his fingers through her hair trying to calm her. "Igor raped her the last time he was at Hogwarts. What he'd done to her may have put a scar in her very heart."

Shocked, Severus nearly dropped his wand. "He what!" After a long pause, Severus had to gather his thoughts felling the flashes of complete anger and growled slowly, "I'll kill him with my bare hands so help me.." Growing with curiosity, Lucius replied, "How long have you been in love with Hermione, Severus. You seem quite fond of her." He didn't respond to the statement. Just his silence gave Lucius the correct answer. "Then my reputation to the dark lord shouldn't be the only one on the line." He laid back down and curled his arms around Hermione. "I'll share her with you if you want Severus. We could have ourselves a little triumvirate with her. All strictly secret of course. Can't let Narcissa get word of it, and you can look after her at Hogwarts when I'm not there for her. How about it?"

Hesitating he looked around the room to think on it for a second. "As long as Hermione agrees to it, I'll do anything for her." he whispered. "Good then. We have a deal. We both won't say anything about her to the dark lord, and meanwhile we're both gentlemen smitten in the darkest corners of our minds." Lucius whispered with a grin.

With a nod of his head, Severus disappeared through the black mist of smoke he created in the room. Hermione stirred in her sleep then awoke so suddenly from the pressure of another body in her bed. "Oh!" she said a little embarrassed. She looked down at her body under the sheets wondering why she felt the fabric on her skin. She was naked, and seeing a wink of Lucius under the sheets, he was also. "Are you alright?" he asked.

The heat of her blush traveled all the way up to her forehead she was so embarrassed. "I thought it was just a dream. Not that I actually did those things....with you....of all people." she muttered to herself. Lucius chuckled and replied, "I think I would have felt the same in your case. But did you enjoy it?" Hermione just nodded her head, "Well then, you've just had sex that was romantic. Now you know how it's suppose to be." He began lifting the blankets off of him and crawling out of bed. He started searching for his clothes when she asked, "Was there someone here? I thought I heard another voice..."

He froze in the middle of putting his knickers back on. "You heard him?" he breathed. Hermione's eyes began to widen from the sight of Lucius slowly tugging his knickers up past his bum. She was so embarrassed to keep staring at his bum she stumbled out of the bed. Turning around to look down at her, he chuckled at her shyness to cover herself with the sheets. "Are you feeling a bit peckish?" he asked. "What?" she asked. She hadn't been listening, "I meant, are you hungry?" he rephrased. She shook her head no and asked again, "I heard another voice, who was it?"

Breathing in a deep sigh, Lucius reached for his black trousers on the dresser and began pulling them up to his hips. "That's why I asked if you were hungry. I don't know how you'll react if I tell you who it was and what we agreed to." Hermione looked up at him in question. "Just tell me now. I can handle it."

With just his trousers on, he sat down on the floor across from her and said, "Alright then....a man arrived here knowing who you are very well. He thinks of you highly and not someone you expect. He confessed to me that he cared about you deeply, and I'm assuming he also loves you the same." He was just about to utter the name when Hermione thought _I hope he's not talking about Ron. _

"Severus and I have agreed to share you. Creating a triumvirate for the three of us so we can protect you from Voldemort." He stated. He wasn't going to ask if she wanted to or not. He was forcing her to agree so that he would have leverage over Severus any time he wanted to please the Dark Lord. Hermione was a little shocked by hearing it had been Severus. She stammered out, "What? But...I thought he hated me? Do I have a word in this?"

"No you don't, sorry lass. That's how it's going to be to keep you safe."

* * *

At the same time Ron was directed into one of the many bedrooms of the castle the ball was held at. He had been dragging Narcissa's limp body the entire way and was exhausted after throwing her onto the bed and collapsing on the floor next to it. She awoke slightly from the rough movement and chuckled drunkly, "Come to bed with me love. We'll make this night a sport of ecstasy!" Ron's eyes widened and began crawling away from the bed to the door. "You're a nutter and a drunk! Leave me alone you vile woman!"

Cackling she jumped from the bed with a burst of energy and hurried to land on Ron. Silently he was wailing from the crush of her body on top of his. "Oh you're a cheeky fellow. Come to me my sweet. Let us play under the sheets!" she squealed. Ron whimpered, "I don't want to play under the sheets with you......!"

Hours later she from being talked out of having sex with Ron. She began complaining about her lot in life and how miserable she was feeling. Ron began feeling sorry for her and said, "But you're so beautiful Mrs. Malfoy how can you feel so much of those things?" She was sitting on the bed melting her eyes out and looked up at him saying, "Because I can't handle the pressure anymore Ron. I need comforting every once in a while, and Lucius doesn't give me that. He just looks down at me and tells me all the time, 'You're just a whimpering witchwife with money. Don't complain to me I've got other matters to attend to.' He's been distant from me for the past year. What do I do?"

Ron stretched out his arms and yawned in the leather arm chair. "I don't know what to tell you, Mrs. Malfoy. You're very hurt and feel constantly alone. I'll be your friend to listen and comfort you but that's all I can do. I'm just a bloke."

She smiled at this and said, "Will you write me when you go back to Hogwarts?" Ron smirked and replied, "Sure. I can do that for you." For the first time, her smile reached her eyes. And he could tell that she felt important for once.

But moment was interrupted from the knock at the door. Draco Malfoy came strolling in with Luna Lovegood. She was smitten and holding hands with Draco. Ron held his breath clenching the arm rests of his seat. He was begging for a miracle that Draco and Luna wouldn't recognize him. Thinking of his best chance to leave, he hurried off the chair and waved back at Narcissa. Then stealthily walked around Draco to the door.

"Hold on a second...do I know you?" Draco turned around trying to get a good look at Ron. But his back was to him and couldn't see his face. Ron shook his head no in response and hurried out the door. As Draco tried stepping out into the hallway in hopes he would turn around,thought unfortunately Ron was already bolting down the corridor looking for a fireplace.

Thinking to himself thankfully, Ron had brought a bag of floo powder from home so he could leave instantly if the emergency arrived. Finally finding one, he ran into the ashes of the fireplace and dumped his bag of flow powder into the soot; shouting, "THE BURROW!"

* * *

As the sun rose, Lucius had instructed her to inform Severus of her choice to be in the triumvirate. When she was done writing the letter and had gotten dressed into muggle clothes, she asked one last favor from Lucius. "I can't apparition to the Weasley's. Can you take me to them?" _ They were planning to head to __Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. I have to be there before they leave! _Lucius shrugged on his overcoat and said, "I'll take you there. Just don't forget to send that letter to Severus." he reached out to hold her in his arms and kissed her on her forehead. "I'll miss you." he breathed into her bangs. She smiled sheepishly and thought very hard of the Burrow's shed. Instead of Lucius's warm muscled body rubbing up against her through wool and fur.

~POP~

They were instantly brought to the Burrow's shed. Luckily they were just outside of the shed. Lucius was still holding onto Hermione tightly. He reached one hand up to her chin and to have her face him. Then leaned down to kiss her upon the lips. Just their soft warm lips danced for a second and then cut off making Hermione wish for more. "I have to go now, stay out of trouble. And contact me when you need me." he whispered. He moved his hand to her hair and began stroking it with his cold leather gloves. She nodded at this words. But felt tears forming in her eyes, "Would you come to me however hard it may be?" she asked. He smirked at this and said, "I'd do anything for you. Anything."

Just then he released her and blew her a kiss before the pitch of black smoke swarmed around his body and he disappeared into the thin air. She analyzed this gesture as a dramatic exit of disapparition later on.

Now it was time to hurry back up the hill to the Burrow. But as she climbed the hill in her muggle trousers and black jumper, she saw that Ginny was just outside the door waiting for her. But something was off with Ginny. The way she stood into her fingers. Smoke was coming off of them. "Ginny! ARE YOU ALIRGHT!" Hermione shrieked. She began running faster up and over the hill to reach Ginny's side.

Ginny flinched from the surprise of Hermione showing up, then panicked to drop what was smoking to the ground. Extinguishing it with her shoe."What are you doing here so late?" she questioned to throw Hermione off.

Noticing the change of subject Hermione looked down at the ground to find a broken cigarette stamped into the pavement. "Were you smoking a fag?" she asked. Ginny's eyes widened and rushed to cover Hermione's mouth, "SHUT IT! MY MUM"S UPSTAIRS CLEANING!"

"Did Ron get here yet?" Hermione whispered. Ginny nodded and took out her wand pointing to the crushed cigarette. "Obliterate !" she snarled. And the cigarette vanished. "Yes he got here in the middle of the night. He nearly woke my mother up."

Sighing with instant relief, Hermione left Ginny outside and walked through the back door to climb up the stairs from the kitchen. She passed a few bedrooms then reached Ginny's room. She was dead tired and wanted to go to sleep very badly. Just as she was about to turn the knob, Fred and George appartioned right next to her in an excited chatter. "WELL WELL! Our heroine finally arrives!" Fred announced. "What's the scoop?" George added.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and entered the bedroom slamming the door behind her. "OH shut it!" she growled.

Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I sure did! XD Now I gotta re-read the fifth book to figure what to write next when Harry arrives. I can't remember everything that happened in there. So I'll have another chapter next week for you all! Maybe sooner who knows! :) By the way Lucius appartioned home before getting Hermione off the train. He was dropping off his stamps so he wouldn't loose them. Ha! I forgot to write that in there.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Hermione had fallen asleep like a rock on the sleeping bag next to Ginny's bed. She awoke to find Crookshanks snuggled inside her open trunk case purring. Sitting up to see why and rubbing her eyes, she found a very strange person standing in front of her. It was Remus Lupin petting the cat and then staring down at Hermione with scrutiny in his eyes. "Ron informed me the two of you snuck out last night. It must have been something big because you still have fake blond hair and Ron is in the bathroom scrubbing his scalp from the black hair dye." She froze at this and tried to come up with something quick.

When she opened her mouth to speak, Lupin cut her off raising his hand in the air, "Oh don't tell me. I can smell him on you. It's obvious where you were..." "What? How would you know where I was? And what do you mean you can smell him on me? Who are you talking about?" she lied.

He just rolled his eyes, and answered, "Don't lie to me, because I can smell a musk odor off your skin. It's not yours and it's not Ron's. I've caught that same scent before whenever I ran into Draco at Hogwarts during my year there. But it was never as strong as it is on you. Also I can smell the lint in your clothes that come from flannel sheets. And there aren't any here. So you were at home with him I take it?" She tried acting confused and tried staring him in the eyes. "Nope." she lied again.

"Agh, Hermione quit lying to me. I won't tell Molly. I need to know what you were doing with him because it's important. Lucius is a death eater. Have you seen what he's done before you were born? The man is a venomous snake. He's a cunning and dangerous man to mess with. He's got the Minister in the palm of his hands. Do you know how much of a threat that is? He's obviously spying for his dark lord." He paused to stand up and look down at her with a glare, "If he's got leverage over you he'll use it to the bitter end. When He-who-must-not-be-named fell from power, somehow Lucius managed to escape persecution and imprisonment. Do you see where I'm getting at? He's using you for something Hermione. You've seen what he did to Ginny in her second year..how could you do that to your friends?"

She was stumped. He got all he wanted from her just by lecturing her and not bothering to listen. He left the bedroom with the slamming of the door. It was hurtful coming from him. He was her friend. And had always encouraged her for her brilliance. She tried not thinking about it and grabbed some parchment and an ink pen from her trunk. Crookshanks fell asleep humbly on top of her Gryfindor robes as she scribbled a letter to Severus.

_Dear Professor Snape,_

_I was told to inform you that I agree to the triumvirate. I...I'm a bit nervous because I'm putting my trust in two people who could be using me or trying to get me killed. But I'm risking it all because I have nothing left. _

_Thank you,_

_Hermione_

After she wrote this, she folded it into a tight envelope and stood up to reach for the door. First she listened to see if anyone was near. Apparently no one was. So she slowly opened the bedroom door and rushed to Ron's room near the attic. When she reached there from the flight of stairs, she leaned into the door and listened for Ron.

There was nothing but the sound of his owl fidgeting in it's bird cage. "Wonderful" she breathed. Then opened it slowly to sneak inside and hurry to the owl. When it spotted her it's body took a leap of energy and began whirling around the cage with so much excitement she was having a harder time getting a hold of it through the cage door. "Quit it Pigwidgeon!" she growled through clench teeth. Finally getting a hold of him through her fingers, She pulled him out of the cage and tried reaching for it's leg with two fingers making sure she had a full grasp on his body for worry he'd freak out and fly around in circles.

Pig was so ecstatic for being of use he held his breath of energy for a moment and perched on one of her fingers wiggling his leg freely in the air. He was waiting for her to tie the note to him. "It's a big envelope silly. You'll have to carry it with both your talons." she explained. He jumped with excitement and grabbed the letter from her hand with both his talons.

Then began flying rapidly like the envelope weighed more than his whole body weight. "You can do it!" she encouraged. But as he flew through the open window she called out, "Take it to Professor Snape! UNDERSTAND!" The owl dropped fifty feet from the air while flying. But picked himself back up into the air flapping his wings as hard as he could. "SOORRY!" She shouted to the owl. Half way into the distance she could see Pig huffing and puffing trying to fly as best he could. He was a good sport for an owl no one enjoyed using.

* * *

Word spread all over the house that they would be leaving to Grimmauld Pl. Everyone began packing their school trunks, while Molly began packing recipe books and spices she knew Grimmauld wouldn't carry in it's kitchen. When everyone was done by the evening, they all stood in front of the fireplace while Molly instructed very loudly, "Dumbledore has made it available for us to travel through the floo powder network just this one time to Grimmauld Pl. We won't be able to do this again. So make sure you packed what you need." No one said anything. George and Fred smirked at each other and tapped their pockets with reassurance.

Then they all took turns to go through the fire place. Hermione was last and arrived all in once piece. She was welcomed by Sirius who gave her a warm hug and took her aside for just a moment, "Lupin has informed meof something involving you. We're going to discuss this at the meeting tonight. I need you to keep what is said secret. Do you understand?" She nodded as he patted Crookshanks head with a gesture of comfort.

Molly then directed to her bedroom. The place was the creepiest house she'd ever seen. Everything was a mess and the walls echoed something dark whenever you were near them. She trumped up the stairs to see house elf heads mounted on the wall. Generation after generation. It was horrible. Her body fidgeted with discomfort that when she came to her room from the stairs. She saw that it was next to Ginny's.

Opening the door there wasn't any relief for seeing it.. The room was filled with cobwebs and dust. The comforters, pillows, and drapes were so moth eaten, that misery erupted through her chest. "I feel like if I stand here long enough the moths will come for me in millions." she complained to Crookshanks who was perched on her shoulder.

She closed the door behind her and stared all around her. Her trunk at her side. She felt nothing. Her cat jumped from her shoulder and began stalking all over the room. Then squeaks came from corners of the room. "Great..there's mice. Even worse."

Then she got a knock at the door. Molly opened the door and said, "There's a gentleman here to see you. I thought I should warn you before he comes inside." Hermione's mind perked up at this. She had no idea who it would be! So she waited and listened to Molly walk down the hall just a few steps and whispered to someone to come in.

The person who walked into the room seconds later was someone she never would have expected. He had an open letter in his hand and was looking straight at her. He closed the door behind her and flicked his wand at the door. He locked it and cast a spell so no sound would come from the room. She was shocked. "Professor Snape." she muttered. He nodded his head at her and looked around the room. "Your owl found me. You should stop feeding it sugar." he remarked. Hermione chuckled and said, "It's not mine. I borrowed Ron's. How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. The Order requested my presence for the meeting tonight. I arrived and found the Weasley family unpacking their belongings. Lupin mentioned to me that you were here with them....are you going to be staying in this very room?" Hermione nodded but she felt miserable again. "It looks horrible." she grumbled. _This is so strange to talk to him this way. _"I could fix it up for you if you like?" he never made eye contact with her. Which was a first. She even noticed he was nervous for the first time in front of her. "That would be nice, do you know a spell to get rid of the mice too?" she questioned. Severus looked into her eyes and nodded his head. "It's a dark one but yes I do."

She hesitated for this choice of magic. "Whatever it takes to get rid of the mice. I can barely breathe in here because of their droppings and the dust is getting worse." She began coughing horrendously. Severus moved to comfort her. He placed his arm on her back and began patting it. The coughs subsided as Severus moved to have her sit on the bed. Then he walked around the not saying anything further and began enchanting the room with gusto. The magic spilling out of his wand was remarkably beautiful to Hermione. The drapes and floorboards were as clean as new. He moved to her bedding and did the same. The comforter twitched and fidgeting itself magically clean that she discovered the comforter was made out of a dark green silk. The silk shown so brightly that the wall paper in the room turned into perfection from Severus's magic. It took a few minutes.

The room was beautiful. "What spell did you cast. I don't even know what you used." she commented. He smirked and answered, "That spell isn't in any book. A house elf showed me once and I've never forgotten it...now I'll be performing a spell for the mice. I would rather you didn't watch." He looked around the room again searching for the mice. Hermione closed her eyes in respect and felt herself smile. She had never been treated like this from Snape. He was kind and a gentleman to her. Why wasn't he like this all the time. _Oh if only the others could see this side of him._

The mice screeched in horror like a small person was screaming. Then a sound came from where Severus was crouched. It was so vividly horrid she opened her eyes to see what it was. All she could see was a deathly green mist covering the entire room. She couldn't even see her shoes. She gasped from the blindness. Severus turned around to look for her and said, "Keep your eyes shut, it will all be over." the sound whirled as she closed her eyes again. The screeching became higher and higher that she could hear the agony in it's every tone. Then suddenly it was gone. The green mist faded as Severus walked through it to sit next to her.

She opened her eyes, and whispered, "Thank you." Severus nodded but seemed to feel bad. "I told you it was dark. They're gone now. The carcasses are in your cat's dish." She chuckled at that which surprised him. "Well at least one of us is happy. He's probably having a field day just for having the mice." Severus nodded again and seemed to retreat into himself with silence. The two of them sat there on the bed in silence for nearly two hours. And for the first time it was a comfortable silence. She moved her hand to his as a sweet gesture to their new triumvirate

"The meeting will start in a few minutes. We should be heading downstairs." he stated. She nodded and noticed he was the first to release her hand. They both left the room quietly as Crookshanks purred eating his dinner.

Ginny and the twins were in the hall at the same time and watched aghast as Snape and Hermione walked close together down the hall and stairs. They entered the meeting room as Ginny and the twins tried to follow. But Molly stopped her children from entering the dinning room. "No go right back upstairs. We're having an order of the phoenix meeting and I don't want you in there!" she shouted. "But Hermione is going!" Fred complained. Molly snapped, "GET UPSTAIRS!" They hurried up the stairs out of Molly's sight reluctantly. Turning to Hermione she said, "I won't be in the meeting but I'll keep an eye on my children from eavesdropping." Hermione nodded and saw the door being closed by Sirius.

Sirius directed her to sit in one of the chairs in the dinning room. She did so by sitting next to Severus. Severus just glared at the wall across from him and folded his hands on the table. "Hermione I've invited you to one of our meetings for a very big reason." Sirius announced as he sat down at the end of the table. A woman with purple hair sat across from her as a few other wizards and witches she barely knew were sitting nearby in the room. Lupin sat next to Arthur and Sirius and didn't give her an ounce of reassurance.

Then Lupin bent over the table and said, "The reason Hermione is here is because we've just received word that Lucius Malfoy is infatuated by her..." The woman with purple hair giggled and winked at Hermione in a friendly matter. "This isn't funny Tonks. It's quite serious. Lucius is a heavy hitter for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He has access to confidential information from the Ministry and as of right now, the Minister of Magic is under Malfoy's thumb. He'll do anything Malfoy asks. Though his weakness for Hermione," Hermione flinched from the stares, "we can use her to an advantage to get information. Now Hermione, your job from now on is to continue having the affair with Lucius and get as much as you can out of him without blowing your cover. You'll need to maintain the dyed blond hair color in case you run into someone who knows you from the death eaters. When Harry arrives, he is not to know anything about this. Even if he pushes you for information. None of your friends can now about what you're doing for the Order. This is strictly secret. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head as her eyes filled like water.

"Alright then. Arthur has to go to work. I need you to bring him breakfast at 4:50 tomorrow morning. That's ten minutes before Lucius arrives at the Ministry to speak with Fudge. You get there right away and do whatever it takes to leave with him. Also...do you know anything about what he wants, so we can lure him when the time comes?" Hermione thought about this. _I can lie and say he wants the newest book about Danish potions from Dark Ancestors and then I won't have to buy it! Oh that's a great idea! That book is expensive and it would be like saving my __entire balance at Gringotts from turning into mulch! _"Yes, I know what he doesn't have that he wants! It's the book called, _Danish Potions from Dark Ancestors._" she lied. Severus gave her a look of mocking annoyance. "That book is quite rare and expensive Hermione. Interesting that you suggest it..." He was on to her. It was like he knew she was lying.

"Because I don't see Lucius wanting a book like that. More of some particular stamps for his stamp collection is what he wants." he told the truthfor her and gave her a look that said 'You can't get away that easily.' "Oh..heh...sure we could get those." she smirked. _Damit why did I lie?_

_Author's Note: Ok that took a lot out of me for today. There will be more tomorrow I hope. Tell me what you think so far! I'm dying to know! :D_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

_Author's note: To view Hermione's upcoming dress, look up "Fall-Winter Prada ads 2008" that show black lace dresses and the black shoes she's wearing. Type that exactly in Google and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about! Besides this was the Black family. And the room she's in was more of a guest bedroom. You'll see who resided in it later on! XD I changed the title of the story because I finally came to a complete idea of where this plot is going. Besides the original title sucked. _

It was four in the morning when Hermione was rudely awaken by Tonks. She nudged her out of bed and said, "Good morning. You need to get ready right away, Arthur is leaving in fifteen minutes!" From hearing the news she jumped out of bed and hurried to her school trunk. "Thank you Tonks!" she smiled. Tonks chuckled at Hermione's rush and said, "You know, Severus arrived earlier than he normally does. I think it's because of you." Hermione froze and turned around red with embarrassment. "No...I don't think it was that. But how did Lupin figure out I had an affair with Lucius?" she asked in a high pitched voice. Tonks bent over backwards roaring with laughter. "SHOOSH you'll wake everyone up!" Hermione gushed. "HE Did too come for you! He cleaned up your entire room! I didn't even recognize it when I walked in! Oh that's just hilarious! Ahaha! And Lupin figured it out because you smelled like him in places that was obvious you were having an affair! You dirty girl! ahahah!" Hermione glared and pushed Tonks out of the room! "Oh keep it in your head." she grumbled. Tonks laughed even from hearing this and walked down the hall still laughing.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at the mirror above the white and gold trimmed dresser. The mirror had golden snakes all across it that she quietly saw it as beautiful. When she faced herself in the mirror, her hair was a furry mess. And the make-up she wore from the night before had vanished. She didn't notice that her natural brown hair was back. It made her feel ugly. "If I go like this to Lucius he'd see me as worthless. I can't look like myself and expect him to notice me..." tears began to fall as she slowly dyed her hair magically back to blond with her wand. Then she waved a spell over her complexion to reveal a beautiful person on the outside. She couldn't keep the eyeliner straight because she kept crying. She began watching her curly brown hair flatten into a straight blond ambition as her make-up rolled down her cheeks.

Softly, Arthur knocked on the bedroom door and opened it to see her crying in front of the mirror. He didn't know what to say because he had never seen Ginny this way. So he asked, "Are you alright?" She looked down at the antique glass perfume bottles littered all over the dresser top. "No...I'm making myself beautiful in his eyes. I just....never mind. Just give me a minute to clean up the make-up. I'll meet you downstairs." _I just wish he would want me to look like me. Not someone completely different._

He stood there for a moment. Unsure of the signals she gave off. Women were so confusing. It was why he married Molly. She was straight forward and honest about her feelings that he didn't always have to ask. Hermione was different. The only feelings she showed was her concern and thoughts of her friends. She never opened enough about herself to anyone. She was a selfless person. No wonder so many admired her. She cared more about others over herself. This drove him to at least say something before leaving the room. "I'll leave you alone, but just think about this. You're a good person. And any man or boy, good or evil who runs into you; will find deep down in their hearts the good you see in them. They'll see how lucky they are to have you. I'm lucky to have Molly with me through all these years....you'll find someone like that in your life too." Hermione smiled up at him and her tears were gone. "Thanks, Mr. Weasley."

He gave her a curt nod and left the room in a kind manner. She hurried to put on her clothes but noticed it wasn't good enough for Lucius. So she risked it, and looked inside the dresser drawer that didn't belong to her. In it was the most beautiful clothes. She found a beautiful black laced dress with a golden lace underneath to fall back on. It had a high collar that buttoned at the neck. But flowed down so finely she was shocked it was still in perfect condition. The lace patterns were flowered and intricate that it must have been handmade. "How beautiful" she whispered.

Crookshanks perked up at the sound of Hermione putting the dress on. He walked around the room and started strutting back and forth. He knew she was missing something. So he dug under the bed crawling on all fours and found exactly what he was looking for. A pair of black dress shoes. He dragged them up to Hermione's feet and meowed for her attention.

She looked down and chuckled at the sight of him helping her. "What are these?" she leaned down and grabbed one of the dress shoes to examine it, the pump had leather wings and ruffles that curved like blades from the heel and the front part of the toe. She knew the title of these shoes but it didn't come to mind. "It's almost like one of those muggle dress shoes I see in the magazines all the time. What would these shoes be doing inside a dark wizard's house?" She bent down again and began to put them on. From the inch of the heel it felt it was up to 4 inches. She knew her feet were going to become stumps if she didn't walk in them right. But as she put one foot into the gorgeous shoe, she felt a soft comfort spreading up the balls of her feet to her heel. Someone had magically placed a comfortable sole inside that made your feet feel wonderful as you walked. Then she put the other foot into the other pump and felt her legs stand with a beautiful stance. The shoes fashionably made her body look like she was a pure-blood. She smiled at this, and looked back in the mirror. Deciding to change her mind from having her hair stray down to her shoulders she placed it up into a tight bun.

It was time to go, so she took one last look at her reflection and gave herself a smile to lift her spirits. She headed out of the bedroom and hurried down the stairs quietly. Making sure she didn't bring any attention to herself from Ron or Ginny. Crookshanks followed her down the stairs and watched her go to the door and give him a smile of reassurance. She looked very different to him, it made him wish for the old Hermione with the bushy hair and ecstatic excitement when she read a book. This new one wasn't the one he remembered. The door closed and he decided to sit near the door waiting for her return.

* * *

Mr. Weasley had arrived at the Ministry. He had instructed Hermione to wait five minutes and to take the visitor's entrance. She waited for him outside the building with the cold fog rising through the streets of London. "It's a bit chilly" muttered a witch walking past her. A few witches would take a second look at Hermione's outfit with envy in their eyes. She knew a lot of them were pure-bloods dressed in their work clothes.

Finally five minutes was up and she walked towards the shabby red phone booth surrounded by graffiti. She arrived in front of it and began pulling aside the side door. Then entered while pulling in the back of the dress to make sure everything was inside and stuck in the crack of the door. Taking a deep breath she picked up the phone and held it above her head, With her other hand she dialed 6 - 2 - 4 - 4 – 2. A voice filled the booth, "State your name and business?" "Hermione Granger, visiting Mr. Arther Weasley." she responded. A silver badge popped out of the coin tin. She grabbed it and clipped it to her shoulder. "You are to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is at the far end of the Atrium." said the receptionist. Then the telephone booth began to descend like an elevator, finally arriving in a magnificent mahogany-paneled entrance hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor.

The peacock-blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming symbols that were continually moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board. On each side of the Atrium, there were many gilded fireplaces connected to the Floo Network. Those on the left were for Arrivals, and every few seconds a witch or wizard emerges from them. On the right hand side, short queues of wizards were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart [OOTP8].

In the middle of the hall there was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a diminutive house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water flying from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of water was added to the pops and cracks of Apparators and the clatter of footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards stride toward a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall. As she passed the fountain and headed toward the security desk, in the water she saw lots of sickles and knuts dotted on the bottom of the pool [OOTP8].

She found she had to report to the Security Desk. Where, a badly shaved man in peacock blue robes took her wand and weighed it on a balance, the scale announced, "Wand is made of vine wood and dragon heartstring 12 inches." He led her through heading for the elevator through the Golden Gates. The elevator provided the main access point for each of the different levels of the Ministry [OOTP8].

Witches and wizards shuffled in behind her the receptionist announced the floors as they went along, She was waiting for the floor to announce the level Mr. Weasley would be at. Finally after a few stops here and there, she reached the _Level 2: Department of Magical Law Enforcement. _

The Elevator stopped, and she had to walk around a few witches inside the elevator to get out. As soon as she arrived, she felt completely lost. There were so many office cubicle walls and halls leading all over the place. How in her right mind was she going to find Mr. Weasley's office? "Shite!" she muttered. A few wizards that walked by her instantly stopped. "Oh my." said one wizard who ran into someone else's cubicle causing a ruckus and a bunch of papers flying into the air. "Oh sorry!" she squeaked. She could only just stand there completely standing out to everyone. No one even noticed the silver badge on her shoulder. A few men gave her a wink as a witch just rolled her eyes and then glared down at her shoes with jealousy. "Um...excuse me!" She said aloud. Five different wizards rushed in front of her smiling sheepishly. "Yes" "Yes?" "Yes, my lady?" "Oh yes?" "Yeppers?"

"Heh...I um, I'm looking for--" she was interrupted by a man who came up behind her and laid his hand on her shoulder. He steered her away from the men and said assertively to them, "She's with me, men." He didn't even call them gentlemen. But she knew the voice instantly. "Lucius?" she whispered. He didn't smile down at her. Just kept walking down one of the many halls and then instantly pulled her into an empty cubicle. He turned her to face him and gave her the most lethal glare, "Why are you here?" He just noticed her badge and it explained everything.

"I'm here for Mr. Weasley." she whispered. "What do you want from him?" he demanded. She opened the brown bag to him which showed the mincemeat tarts. "It's for Mr. Weasley. Molly made them." she explained. "Please understand, I wasn't trying to be sneaky or something." she murmured. He looked over the walls of the cubicle they were in and said abruptly, "Leave them here. Now." She placed them on a desk nearby; turning her head to look up at him as he grabbed a hold of her arm. Then he leaned over and sneered into her ear, "We're leaving here now." Suddenly he apparitioned with her out of the Ministry of Magic.

* * *

She found herself in front of a large rot iron gate with Lucius still clutching her arm tightly. "Keep your head down and hurry inside." he remarked. She did so and the two of them hurried through the gate. A large white peacock followed them half way on top of the large green perfectionist bushes aligned all around the fences of the large Manor. "Where are we?" she whispered. "My home." Was all he said to her. He opened the door quickly and dragged her inside. "What have I done to make you upset with me?" she whispered. He didn't answer, just hurried her to the dinning room where Severus had been sitting quite calmly. "Bellatrix is with Narcissa at Gringotts. No one is here but us." he explained.

She didn't feel safe at the idea of all three of them alone together. "What's going on?" she asked. Severus removed a box from his lap and placed it on the table. "Open it Hermione." Lucius commanded.

Hermione took a deep breath and did what was driving her curiosity. She walked over to the table and slowly grabbed the box. Moving it closer to her so she could open it completely. There inside the beautiful mahogany box was a Fabergé Egg. The egg had a dark green base with golden carved snakes swirling all around the egg. It also had four curled golden feet from the bottom. "It's remarkable." she whispered. "Open the egg Hermione." Severus instructed.

Opening the egg slowly by the small snake clasp, a bright glow erupted from it shattering all darkness around her. Then a soft whisper carried from it. Beginning to ask her something..


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

_Author's Note: I placed a playlist for this story on my profile. If you like it tell me. Cause that's what I listen to when I write this story. :) The armor I'm describing was taken from the armor for the game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. You type that and you'll see the second picture they display on google as exactly what I'm talking about. _

Hermione's chest began to burst with a powerful energy filling all over her body. The egg whispered a statement, "You are Pure of Heart. The brave will rise in armor for you!" A man appeared before her in bright silver armor. His helmet had a large set of pointed metal ears that rose 14 inches from the helmet itself. Nothing reveled his face and his cape flapped to an invisible wind. He pulled out his long silver sword and placed the hilt in front of where his forehead would be. Then he kneeled to the ground as he held it stead to say through his helmet, "I command the army for you when the need arises." Suddenly he faded through the brightness of the room. And all the light the egg produced sucked itself back and closed by itself.

She was stunned. What had just happened. "What did he mean by an army?" she breathed. Severus was still sitting in his chair and said softly, "You'll have to hear the story to understand. The maker, Peter Carl Fabergé, made that egg for a close friend. Who happened to be a wizard. The story goes that the wizard was a pure-blood who fell in love with a muggle born. For while they were happy. The wizard's job at the time was to find lost wizardry treasures. One of those treasures was a box that contained a silver clad army of 400 strong men from the 11th Century. The wizard was ecstatic to find such a box that he kept it safe in his home for years and years. Then when it came down to his wife being chased by the witch hunts of our pure-blood soceity in Russia. The wizard became desperate to protect his wife. He searched for his muggle friend Peter Fabergé. He begged him to make one of his famous eggs. Fabergé sketched four designs of the egg, he was told to carve snakes into and to keep the color of only a dark green to maintain it's base. When the egg was finished, the wizard was in such a hurry to take it that the egg was never publicly announced to the world. So Peter made a muggle replica called the Azov Egg. Anyways, the wizard brought the egg to his study and created a powerful spell to place the army inside the egg. The next day he gave it to his wife and told her everything about the egg. When it came the time to open the egg, she was locked in a cell by our own people. She begged the army to free her and attack all those who oppose muggle borns till the day she died. The army granted her every word, and attacked pure-bloods all over the world. She was set free and came home to see her husband being slaughtered by the army's commander. Confused and hurt, she committed suicide and the egg has never been opened since. When Lucius and I came to be owners of this object quite recently for reasons I can't explain. He would have used it for his family, but we discovered the object only works for those born of muggles. Voldemort would kill for this egg. Because it summons this army.'

"Since you opened it, the egg recognizes you as it's owner. So it will only work for you. I need you to keep this egg safe from everyone. Do you understand?"

Hermione's was very shocked by this story and said, "Yes I will, but what did the wizard call this egg?" Severus chuckled at this and answered, "It's called the Pureblood Faberge Egg. The name is wrong because it doesn't work for Purebloods. It more of works for those pure of heart and being a muggle born. Most wizards and witches don't know the story behind it and whom can open it. They automatically think it's just for purebloods. So they research their own genealogy to see if they're 'Pure' enough for the Fabergé Egg."

All she could do was just nod her head. "Then I will take care of it." she breathed. The egg hummed between her fingers as she grabbed her wand out. She transfigured the egg to appear as a purse and kept it at her side.

Suddenly a series of rings came all around the Manor. "It's him. Hurry hide her!" Lucius grabbed the cloak off his shoulders and swirled it around Hermione's figure. Severus held his hand up and said, "No, Voldemort doesn't know who she is, I can protect her mind from him, so she won't give herself away by accident. Let him see her." Then he turned to Hermione as Lucius ran up to the door. "I need you to keep your mind clear. Don't think of anyone. Not even the particular person he's after. IF he addresses you, you address him as the Dark Lord. Am I clear?" Hermione's nerves jumped all over her body. She couldn't keep herself from shaking. "Yes..Yes" she stuttered. Severus stood up from his chair and walked around the table to comfort her.

He wrapped his arms around her and began rubbing her back. "Keep yourself calm." Then out of no where he kissed her forehead and held her close. "I'll protect you." he breathed.

Voldemort had finally entered the Manor in a black hooded cloak. Severus released Hermione and stood in front of her to bow to Voldemort. Lucius was still standing near the door and bowed as well. Hermione had to do the same, even if her nerves went from scared to a fiery assertiveness. She was scared out of her mind for being there. And like any Gryffindor she would be brave and stand with valor rather than sulk into anxiety while pulling her hair out.

Voldemort looked around the room, seeing the stone floor covered with a beautiful thick Italian carpet. _(added the Italian part for glamor)_ Then he walked towards the drawing room where Lucius, Severus, and Hermione had to follow. Hermione didn't notice till now that there were Many portraits, presumably of generations of Malfoy's, adorning the walls just around the Manor. But the drawing room, contained a marble fireplace, luxurious chairs, and even more portraits. But the most beautiful thing she noticed in the drawing room was the bright cyrstal chandelier that glowed from the lighted candles all over the Manor. [DH1&23]

He took the chair nearest the fireplace and instructed Lucius and Severus to sit in the two chairs across from him. Hermione stood behind Severus's chair. Knowing whatever spell he would be using, she would be nearby for him to protect her. Lucius acted as if Hermione didn't exist. Inside she kept thinking about what she had done wrong. Why he was acting this way towards her and why did she feel so bent out of shape about it.

Voldemort looked up at her then and stared. He unraveled the strings of his cloak as the hood slid off from his head. Still staring at her. She knew instantly that he was analyzing her.

"Who are you?" he asked; waiting for an answer. He looked her in the eyes waiting for her to give herself away if she lied. "I'm Genaveive." was the best lie she could speak. She made herself believe it and made the name clear in her head that it was true. "You remind me of someone....what school do you go to?" he questioned.

Hermione answered trying to ignore the part where she reminded him of someone, "I go to Hogwarts." he nodded at this and looked at Lucius, "Does Draco get along with her?"

Lucius muttered, "He's never spoken to her. For he's too focused on pleasing his family. So he wouldn't have noticed her."

"Wouldn't notice her? What I'm asking Lucius is if she's a Slytherin! Because I would notice her." Voldemort folded his arms across his chest.

Lucius looked up at Voldemort a little bewildered. "What? Yes yes..she's a slytherin. She's more kept to herself at Hogwarts. That's why he doesn't notice her."

"Ah, well then," he turned to Hermione, "Are you taken by the charms of a beau at Hogwarts?" Voldemort asked. Hermione blushed and looked at the ground. "Uh...no sir I'm not." Voldemort smirked at this and said "Then you must be available during the evenings." Both Severus and Lucius looked at each other in shock. Lucius was about to say something to that when he was interrupted by Severus, "Sir, surely she's busy with her studies for Hogwarts. We shouldn't pester her evenings."

Voldemort glared at this and said, "She can make time during her evenings, Severus. I request that she have dinner with me once a week. IS that understood?" Lucius and Severus couldn't say anything more on the matter. Hermione wanted to shout, 'NO' but was held down by her words from Severus's sudden arm wrapped around her waist. "She'll make time to have dinner with you my lord."

Lucius was clenching his fists on the arm wrests with a cold expression on his face. He was glaring at the ground till Voldemort said, "Then we have an agreement, Lucius take her home while I discuss with Severus on an issue I'm having." Lucius gave him a curt nod and stood up from his chair. He held his arm out for Hermione to take. She did so quickly from standing next to Severus and the two walked out of the drawing room. She turned back to see Severus staring at the ground in disappointment.

When they finally got out through the front doors of the Manor, Lucius closed the front doors and turned to grab her in an embrace. He held her in his arms, and kissed her forehead twice as he placed his cheek up against her. The grip he held on her was tight and showed a desperate anxiety. Hermione burst in tears and whimpered, "Why did you treat me so?"

"I had to, otherwise the Dark Lord would have heard my every thought of you. I'm so sorry my dove." he whispered. He moved to face her and lifted her chin to kiss her. Her lips quivered over his but the kiss was thrust upon her like he had held everything back this entire time.

When he released her he only grabbed her hand and the two of them ran towards the gate. "Are we really going to my place?" she asked as she brushed back her tears while running along side him. Lucius didn't answer and pulled out his wand; pointing it at the gate. It opened automatically and the two ran through the opening. In mid step she felt the sensations of the apparition Lucius created. The street in front of her disappeared and they were in some bizarre room.

She had to rub her eyes for a second to see that she was in a room with a French balcony and a canopy bed. The bed's surrounding white curtains swirled to the presence of the wind coming from the open French doors. "Where are we?" she whispered. Lucius didn't answer. He wasn't any where near her. She looked around for him. She searched in the bathroom behind her and only found a bathroom with marble floors and gold faucets. When she came back to the bedroom she saw Lucius on the bed topless under the sheets. Or at least she hoped he wasn't topless. "I'm at your mercy." he smiled deviously.

* * *

Ron had awoken to Pigwidgeon hurrying through the bedroom windows to get to his cage as quick as he could. Ron sat up from his bed watching, Pigwidgeon hurry into the cage and then all of a sudden ruffled his feathers to make him bigger and glare at the wall in front of it. "What's with you?" Ron asked. Pig didn't even look at Ron. Just kept glaring and slowly got his feathers even more ruffled. "Well you're a cranky morning owl."

He went to get up and saw a note placed on his dresser. "Well what's this." He bent over to reach for the letter. Then walked over to the light coming from the window. He opened it and it read:

_Dear Ron,_

_Meet me at Diagon Alley at Flourish and Blott's right away. I found this bird two days ago. Snape said I could use it so my husband wouldn't notice. Sorry it took me a while to send him away. _

_Narcissa_

Ron just froze and turned to look at Pig. "No wonder you're in a peeved mood. She must have forgotten to feed you." The owl glared up at him and then back at the wall. "Well I gotta sneak out before mum notices. It's like six in the morning. Hermione's been gone since yesterday. And why did Snape have my owl?"

_Author's Note: Sorry for taking a while, my brother's girlfriend read this and I felt totally awkward about it for days. So I finally sat myself down and just got it out my head. Hope you liked it! OO Please review!_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Ron had arrived at Florish in Blotts with a black wig and the same suit he wore when Narcissa first met him. He looked around to see Narcissa hiding behind a book with a very indecent picture moving on it. The picture was of a couple snogging so severely that Ron had to squint at the picture to figure out if the guy in the picture was attacking her face or actually kissing her. "Um....Mrs. Malfoy is that you?" he asked when he approached her reading the book.

She put the book back into the bookshelf nearby and smiled up at him. "You came." she whispered. Ron stopped in front of her and began looking around to see if anyone was nearby. "What's going on? Are you alright?" he asked.

She looked over her shoulder than at the front door of the store. "I don't think she came back from Gringott's yet. Hurry, let's get out of here before she finds me." she stated and grabbed his hand hurrying past book shelves as Ron stumbled along side her in a daze. "Wait where are we going?"

"Just keep quiet till we're in a safe place." she explained. He kept his mouth shut and followed her out of the store, running as fast as he could behind her to an alleyway off the side of Ollivander's wand shop. They stopped in the alleyway as Ron leaned up against the stone wall of a store to catch his breath. "You're mad." he breathed.

She smirked at his words and looked around the corner of the alley to see anyone who noticed them running to their location. "We need to leave Diagon Alley, I want to tell you something." she whispered as she turned to look up at him. He nodded when she reached for his hand. "We're going to apparition now. Just hold on to me tightly and trust me." she explained.

He grasped her forearm and clenched it tightly. He kept his bravery in his stomach and instantly felt dizzy when they arrived in a garden of some kind. He had to blink a couple times to see that the garden had large flowers all over the place. The grass was the size of his house and the roses were blooming at the size of Hogwarts. He kept still and looked around as Narcissa smiled up at him. "I made this garden when I was little. My mother had read to me a muggle story behind my father's back...It was called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it was so imaginative that I couldn't help but want it to come to life."

Ron just looked at her as if she was insane. It took him a moment to look around the enormous garden to find an oak table off to the side with a collection of tea pots all over it and different colored chairs of all kinds.

He looked back at her and said out of the corner of his mouth, "There aren't any large spiders in this muggle story were there?" She chuckled into her white gloved hand and said, "Oh dear no! Just a large caterpillar and....a white rabbit." Ron felt the tingle of a shiver run up his spine. "Caterpillars aren't that bad, just that many legs moving from it is creepy." She chuckled again and began leading him towards the table. She sat him at the winged back chair sitting at the far end of the table. "Sit here." she instructed. "I want to show you something that I've never told a soul."

Ron placed his hands on the arm rests of the dark green chair. Then he inhaled deeply to take in what she was going to say next, "I'm an animagus." she whispered. She was looking down at the ground then closed her eyes to change in front of him. She shifted into a white rabbit with bright blue eyes. Her puffy tail and soft pelt was irresistibly adorable. "Wow." he mouthed. She hopped towards him and then jumped as high as she could to the table top. Narcissa was now in front of him looking as adorable as she could in her form as the white rabbit. "You remind me of Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump." he smiled. The rabbit opened her mouth while closing her eyes and shook her head imitating a laugh. "I won't tell a soul, Mrs. Malfoy."

She stopped her imitation and shifted back into her human form. She was still sitting in front of him and in a sexy manner placed her legs over the edge of the table to where her feet sat on the arm rests in front of his hands. Her dress swept over his knees as she did this. When she leaned down towards him she smiled wickedly and began rising the end of the dress to her thighs. "Um...Mrs....Malf--" he was cut off by her sudden lips upon his. She moved her legs to where she was sitting on his lap. He thought his mind would race, but it went silent. He closed his eyes and felt a shimmering glow spread all over the two of them.

Her lips were soft as her wispy breath crossed over his lips and then entangled her tongue into his. She released her lips and breathed into him, "I've lost my faith in love, and you have made me feel whole again...thank you for helping me believe again." He smiled and went for her lips again. He placed his hands on the back of her head and held her with his thumbs in front of her ears. The kiss was humble and loving that he sighed away his anxiety.

* * *

When Hermione woke up from the silk sheets and velvet blanket wrapped around her body so tightly she thought she was hanging onto Lucius.

Noticing this she sat up to see that no one was in the bed with her. She was alone. _Maybe he's in the bathroom. That's it maybe he's there._ She got out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom door. "Lucius?" she called out as she opened it. There was no response. Nothing. She hurried inside the bathroom to see if he was in the shower. It was empty. She started to panic. She called out over and over his name and she received no response. She hurried to the French balcony and looked over the railing to the street below her.

She called out again looking left and right over the street and received no response. "LUCIUS!" she finally screamed. A few people looked up at her from her shrill shouting. She finally began to notice her environment. There was a large beam that rose through the morning fog across from her bedroom. It squared off into a point as a tower. "The Eiffel Tower?! I'm in Paris!"

Hermione hurried back into the room and saw a man standing in front of the door with bright frizzy red hair wearing a top had and a large floral bow under his chin. She even noticed his velvet red tailed dress coat. He was carrying a brown rabbit and petting it with a wand in his hand. His top hat carried an ace of cards inside the pink ribbon wrapped around the bottom of the hat. His eyes glowed sickly orange and the make-up was blushed with a hint of violet over his cheek bones and eye sockets. His skin was pale white and he didn't look to excited to see her.

"Who are you?" she asked. Hermione slowly shifted herself toward the nightstand next to the bed and reached out towards her wand. Before her fingers could even grab it, the man pulled his wand out and pointed it right at her. "I request of you not to move any further." He flicked his wand and her wand left the nightstand and into his hands under the rabbit. "You are not of age to cast any protection."

She panicked. She had nothing to protect her but the Fabergé Egg on the nightstand at the other side of the bed. She was still in a silked pajamas that Lucius handed her after they had made love last night. "What do you want from me?" she demanded. The man slowly walked towards her giving her a cheshire smile as he explained, "Why is a raven like a writing desk? "

She had to think of who he reminded her of. Finally it came to mind,"You're the Mad Hatter? You're a character from _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_. You're suppose to be the good guy. You're suppose to--" her mind was racing with stalling questions.

"Answer my riddle and I'll let you leave this flat alive." he stated coldly. Hermione stopped herself from running up against the wall. She stuttered, "I—I" she closed her eyes and began thinking over and over the answer to his riddle.

He began to walk closer towards her, his wand pointed directly at her. She opened her eyes and said, "I don't know the answer." His eyebrows raised, and said, "That's too bad, So I'm here on behalf of Nacrissa."

Her eyes widened with fear. "Crucio" he muttered. Then suddenly out of nowhere his wand began to swirl a dark enchantment. She screamed when she felt her flesh crawl and jerk then her body was twisted into shear pain. Her scream turned from fright to complete agony. "NO! PLEASE STOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!" the agony stretched her spine as if the marrow was crawling out of the bone. Her mind would pin point every painful part of her body, but sudden thoughts crept inside where she was happy. They were of Harry and Ron. Ron with his quirky humor and pessimistic views on homework. Harry smiling at the triumph of being with his friends the first week they come back to school every year. Would she see them again? Feel them hug her and laugh at the idea of Professor Trelawney being correct on her assumptions of the future.

She opened her eyes feeling the agony of just looking up at him. "Please" she whimpered. A sudden person arrived next to the Mad Hatter. A spell was cast from the stranger and suddenly everything went black. She knew the spell was gone, but the traces of it was still all over her body.

Minutes had past and she finally opened her eyes to see a face looking back at her. It was the Mad Hatter lying across from her on the floor where she was. He was staring right at her without a blink in his eyes. "He's dead." a voice announced to her. She blinked again as a hand rested on her back. "Hermione...you're safe now."

The voice was recognizable, it was him. "Severus...." she breathed. Arms were wrapped around her body. Warm and comforting just by it's touch. But the raw pain was still there. "It'll all go away soon. Lucius went to deflect the men outside this building" he explained.

"Wait...the egg...I left the egg on the other nightstand." she whimpered.

_Author's Note: I write on my days off so that's why there's such a wait. :( For the mad hatter is a replica of Tim Burton's version. Type in Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and the first link on Google will show you the exact picture I see him as. Please tell me if I'm doing any good at all!_


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